Ford World Men’s Championship: Final

Scotland 7, Canada 6.

Showing their trademark resolve to stick it out to the very end, David Murdoch and his team won the world title at the Ford Worlds in Moncton on Sunday evening, with the last stone of a come-from-behind 7-6 victory over the Canadian favourites, led by Kevin Martin.

This was the third win in a row for the Scots over Canada and, for the first time in these three games, the Scots struggled to gain control as Canada upped their game.

Because of their win in the 1 v 2 Page Play-off, the Scots – Murdoch, Euan Byers , Pete Smith and Ewan MacDonald, along with alternate Graeme Connal and coach David Hay - had last stone advantage in the final, and used it to take two from the first end.  However, the Canadians responded straightaway and levelled the game at 2-2 in the second end.

Scottish second Peter Smith struggled with some of his shots, but he came to the rescue of his team in the third end with a magnificent quadruple take-out that changed the complexion of an end that was not going Scotland’s way.  Despite this, the Canadians forced Murdoch to take a single from the end rather than blank it.

After this, Canada moved into the lead for the first time, scoring two in the fourth when Murdoch settled for some damage limitation with his final shot.

Scotland blanked the fifth end and then could only score a single in the sixth when good Canadian play forced the Scots to draw for one.

Despite facing three Scottish counters in the seventh, Martin drew for a single to take a 5-4 lead, and then moved further ahead to 6-4 with a steal of one in the eighth when Murdoch was heavy and wide with what needed to be a precision draw onto the button.

Despite this, the Scots fought back in the ninth and got their reward of a double when Martin’s attempted take-out was just off, leaving a Scottish stone clinging on at the back of the house, and giving Murdoch an easy draw for two.

With the teams now level, the tenth end seemed to take forever.  The Scots nudged two stones near the button that were well-guarded and, following a five-minute Canadian debate, Martin threw his first stone through the house.  Murdoch then pushed one of his own onto shot position, and then Martin’s attempted heavy clear-out went wrong to give Scotland their steal and title.

In the mayhem afterwards, Murdoch said, “this is like a fairytale – somebody pinch me.  There is no better feeling than winning in Canada, the audiences are so good and it’s an amazing feeling”.
Reflecting on his triple over Martin, he said, “We’ve beaten an ‘unbeatable’ Canadian team three times and I think that shows the belief this team has.  This week is a marker for next year and it shows we’re doing something right”.

Speaking about the tenth end, Murdoch said, "I don't know if he felt he had much of a shot.  He could see a lot of stones in position, but I was surpirsed he didn't take off the guards earlier".

Photo by Hugh Stewart / Scottish Curler